the Goddess of the ocean, widely worshipped by Japanese fishermen. Her shrines are niches made in the masts of ships where many items are kept. She grants good catches!Suijin, a water Goddess, often has shrines at lakes, ponds, springs and wells. She is sometimes said to take the form of fish or large, sometimes white, snakes. Women play a key role in her worship and a few large shrines (Suitengu in Tokyo, for example) are primarily focused on helping pregnant women deliver safely.

In the original Japanese Shinto Religion, there are many versions of a God of Water, which shows how important water is to a rice planting agricultural society.

"Sea Theologies: Elements for a Conceptualization of Maritime Religiosity in Japan" Fabio Rambelli A glaring blind-spot in Japanese religious studies is the lack of attention dedicated to conceptual (and theological) elements in sea-based beliefs and practices. As a consequence, we know very little about the theology of the sea and sea deities dwelling in the abyss. This talk will focus on three different aspects of sea-related cults: the role of the sea in the Nakatomi no harae great purification ritual, the status of treasure ships (takarabune), and the nature of boat spirits (funadama). These three elements are normally treated separately, and are not explored in their theological and philosophical implications, but the talk will show that, when combined, they offer a unique perspective on Japanese maritime religiosity as it was practiced and imagined by different agents and groups: fishing communities (as in the case of funadama), ritual specialists and intellectuals (in the commentaries on the Nakatomi no harae), and larger communities (as in the images of takarabune associated with widespread cults of the seven gods of good fortune or shichifukujin). It will be argued that these three elements function as semiotic shifters−representations and agents of change, transformation, and movement, all features of maritime religiosity. - - - - - Lecture in Kyoto, May 30, 2017 - source : zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/institute ... -

Funadamaguu 船玉宮 Funadama Gu 福井県吉崎御坊 Fukui Yoshizaki Gobo Yoshizaki-gobō was a temple in the town of Arawashi, Sakai District. It is best known for its connection to Rennyo, the founder of the Ikkō sect of Buddhism.

Hoodoosan Jinja 宝登山神社 Hodosan Jinja in Saitama, August 15. This boat festival at Nagatoro 長瀞 dates back to the Tokugawa period. Travelers from Chichibu used to raft down to Edo and prayed at the shrine for safe passage along the Arakawa river.

Funadama 船魂 The Funadama is an incarnation of 十一面観音 Juichimen Kannon with 11 Heads. People put some femail hair in the box, two dice for the 双六 Sugoroku game and 45 coins of 大観通宝 Daikan Tsuho. The box is fastened under 帆柱 the main sail supporting mast. The dice have to be placed carefully: 1 up, 6 down and 2 facing the inside of the boat.

Funadama Sama 船魂様 The female Funadama Sama does not like just one woman in a boat. If a woman has to use it by herself, she usually keeps a doll to appease the Deity. The box is fastened under the main sail supporting mast, see above.

Funatama 船霊 This Funatama likes gambling, so eight coins and a borad of the game 双六 Sugoroku are seen as its 神体 Divine Representation. It does not like kuchinawa くちなわ serpents. Before something bad happens or sometimes a few days before that, it makes the sound チリンチリン chirin-chirin to announce the event.

船魂様 Funadama Sama Funatade 船たで / 船タデ is a process of smoking out the bottom of a boat to make it stronger against rotting in the the sea water. During this process, the Funadama Sama must be taken out.

Funatama no saezuri 船魂のサエズリ When Funatama can be heard making a sound チュチュチュ chuchuchu it is a bad foreboding. The sound moves from the front to the stern. This sound is also called "the twittering of the Funatama" 船魂さんのサエサス saesazu, 船魂さんがナカス Funatama san ga nakasu".

Funadama San 船魂さん If Funadama is in a good moot, a sound like リリン、リリン ririn ririn can be heard from the rudder.

Funatama 舟魂 In bad weather, when the boat is about to sink, Funatama walks around with the sound キョロキョロ kyoro-kyoro. The captain then has to wash his face with salt water and grip the oar really strong.

Furubira occupies the eastern end of the north coast of the Shakotan Peninsula facing the Japan Sea. The town is largely built around the Furubira River, which runs from the highlands of the Shakotan Peninsula into the Japan Sea. Furubira was established as one of many Pacific herring fishing settlements in the region at the beginning of the Edo period (1603 – 1868). Manganese was once mined at the head of the Furubira River; mining ceased in the town in 1984. The mine was located at Inakuraishi. The Port of Furubira, located near Cape Maruyama, is an active fishing port. Shrimp, Alaska pollack, and saltwater clams are a mainstay of the economy. The Furubira River provides irrigation for the production of rice, potatoes, and soy beans. Beef, pork, and poultry are also raised in the town.- quote wikipedia -

- quote - Ji-ten, whose name means "earth deva," guards the downward direction and is the god of the earth. He is also called Kenro chijin.

On the more down-to-earth animistic beliefs of rural Japan, he comes as Yama no Kami and Ta no Kami, the God of the Mountains and the Fields, who changes his residence twice a year, retreating in autumn to the mountains and coming back in spring to the fields. This is a fascinating tale of its own.

In Shinto, when a mountain is considered an object of worship, a yamamiya may be established at the summit or on the side of the mountain, as at Sengen Jinja on Mt Fuji. In some cases, the yamamiya may be regarded as an "interior shrine" (okumiya) in contrast to a shrine located in a village (see satomiya) or lower on the mountain. Some scholars see the yamamiya associated originally with ancestor worship, and thus also with the dual complex of mountain god (yama no kami) and rice field god (ta no kami). - source : Kokugakuin

At the graveyard, a bluish fire-light was seen every night. The villagers were afraid, thinking it was the soul of a villager and did not even dare to pass the road during daytime. 玉吉 Tamakichi wanted to see it for himself and went out one evening, carrying 地神の魂の扇 a hand fan with the soul of the Jigami in one hand. When he reached the graveyard, he could see the bluish light. While fanning with his hand fan he went closer. The ground of the grave was still fresh so Tamakich started to dig, found the coffin bound with a cord and pulled it up. But it was not a coffin but a hookei 包茎 (the dictionary says: a phallus with phimosis).

here is another version of Tamakichi and jishin no oogi 地神の扇 the hand fan of Jishin. 夢のお告げを聞いた玉吉は、朝早くに万年橋に向かい、お告げ通り扇を手に入れた。家では長年家から出たことのない玉吉がいなくなったので大騒ぎをしていたが、ぼろぼろの扇で仰ぎながら帰ってきた。大水害の後で家は建て直したが地神は祭っていなかったので、早速屋敷神を祭って地神祭をした。しばらく後、玉吉は体も治り仕事をするようになった。村人がこれを聞き、病気になると扇であおいでもらうようになった。仰いでもらうと、すぐに病気は治ったという。

Most festivals are held on the day 16 of a lunar month, one day after the full moon. izayoi 十六夜 (いざよい) moon on day 16 . In Spring to welcome Yama no Kami to the fields In Autumn to see him off to the mountain. Many rituals involve the offering of 16 rice dumplings.

This Tanokami protects the Shrine fields of 鹿児島神宮 Kagoshima Jingu. His face is that of an old man with a beard. The statue is about 90 cm high. In the right hand he holds a meshige メシゲ (shamoji rice paddle in the local dialect), in the left hand a bowl for cooked rice. This is the classical form of Tanokami as represented in local Kagoshima dance rituals. The Tanokami Mai 田の神舞 dance ritual at the shrine is held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (now on a Sunday near to it). After this dance, the saotome 早乙女 rice planting women begin their work.

In Kagoshima, offerings made to 大黒様 Daikoku sama are not eaten by girls. This will keep the Kami in the home. On the first day of the 10th lunar month, Daikoku (the Tanokami) goes off to Izumo to meet the other Kami.

"Oikemono Jinji (オイケモノ神事)" O Ikemono Jinji is held at Kamo Jinja Kamisha (加茂神社上社) in Wakasa, Fukui. Oikemono Jinji is an annual and unique ritual to perform divination of this year's harvest, and it was continuously held since about 1000 years ago. . . . It is believed that the enshrined deity "Yama-no-kami (山の神)" is involved in the seeding. . Wakasa Kamo Jinja 加茂神社 .

. sanaburi 早苗饗 (さなぶり) end of rice planting . tauejimai 田植仕舞 celebrating the end of the rice planting activities 「早上(さのぼり」sanobori indicates a day for Tanokami to go back to 天 the sky. The farmers take a day of rest and walk along the planted fields with a Shinto priest leading them in the thank-you-prayers to the Tanokami. Later they have a feast of sekihan 赤飯 ritual red rice and mochi 餅 dumplings and enjoy some funny dance performance.

yama no kami matsuri 山の神祭 festival for the god of the mountain yama no maki koo 山の神講prayer group for the god of the mountain ..... yama no koo 山の講（やまのこう） yama no ko matsuri 山の講祭festival of the prayer group for the god of the mountain Held in the winter months at various shrines. The prayer groups consisted of people who worked in the mountains. They had offerings twice a year, in early spring to open the season and in early winter to give thanks for the year.

. tookanya 十日夜 night of the tenth (tenth day of the tenth lunar month) Harvest thanksgiving for the god of the fields, celebrated in Eastern and Northern Japan. (nowadays around November 15). It was day shortly before a full-moon day of old.

. inoko mochi, i no ko mochi 亥の子餅 rice cakes for the wild boar festival They were prepared in the hour of the boar and eaten as a harvest thanksgiving. This a custom coming from China. Here the deity honored is also seen as the God of the Fields (ta no kami). Inoko is a festival on 旧暦10月の亥の日 the day of the wild boar in the tenth lunar month. On this day 田の神 the Tanokami goes back to the mountains. Festival of the Goddess 摩利支天 Marishi Ten and his animal, the Wild Boar.

. kami no rusu 神の留守 the gods are absent . The tenth lunar month (now November), after the harvest when the Japanese gods had done their duty, they left their local shrines for a bit of a vacation. They would all go for an audience and to celebrate at the great shrine of Izumo, so the rest of Japan was "without gods".

Sankami Myojin 幸神明神 Great Deity of Good Fortune - - - - - In Tokyo Once the children played with a statue of 明神様 Myojin Sama and let it float in water. An old man of the hamlet took it away from them. Two or three days later, he became very ill. Maybe this was because he had taken the statue, so he let if float again in water and was soon healed.

Ta no Kami, Tanokami 田の神 God of the Fields Shanichi Sama, Shajitsu Sama 社日様 God of the Shrine Day Sakugami Sama 作神様 God of the Harvest

- quote - shanichi 社日 The tsuchinoe day nearest to the vernal and autumnal equinoxes; the "irregular holiday" (holidays celebrated on days when the sun is not situated at one of the 24 equal divisions of its annual orbit) celebrated on those two days. Individually the two are called shunsha (the "vernal shanichi") and shūsha (the "autumnal shanichi"), but if one simply says shanichi then it usually refers to shunsha. On these days, people take a break from farming, and a custom of meeting in shanichikō (shanichi community associations) and chijinkō (earth kami community associations) also exists. Also, the spring shanichi is considered to be the standard day for the soaking and softening of seeds. In China, shanichi was the festival day for celebrating the sha (Ch: she), which refers to the "land kami," the "tribal kami," or the celebrations devoted to them. The date of shanichi celebrations in China varied by region and time period, but their functions generally have not: the spring shanichi was to pray for agricultural production and the autumn shanichi was to express gratitude for the harvest and to divine the coming harvest year. Japan's shanichi celebrations also came from these traditions, but as it spread from region to region, the content of the events took on great variation. For example, people living in Tokushima Prefecture have a custom in which they call on Ojishisama and celebrate that kami in parish festivals in which the tōya (secular households overseeing the ritual in their area) pounds mochi. On shanichi, the people of Nagano Prefecture honor the ta no kami, or "kami of the fields," in their celebrations. They believe that in the spring, the ta no kami descends from the mountains to watch over the rice cultivation and returns again to the mountains in the fall, and worship him by pounding mochi in both spring and autumn. In Oita Prefecture's Hida basin, people call this holiday "sajitsu," or "saji" and believe that on the saji in February, the kami Sakugamisama descends from heaven and in the autumn saji he ascends to heaven. In part of Fukuoka Prefecture's Kaho District, people call it oshioi, and have a custom of purifying the house within and without using ocean sand brought home from the beach. - reference source : Kokugakuin - Yumiyama Tatsuya 2007 -

毘沙門様 Bishamon Sama Bishamon Sama is a greedy deity. If one borrows money it has to be given back in double. He is also seen as Sakugami. On the 13th day of the first month, farmers place 20 soy beans into the hearth. If they all become black, it will be a good harvest this year. If only half will get black, only half of the good harvest. On the 15th day of the 6th month, cucumbers are offered in the hope they will induce 豊作 a good harvest.

社日様 Shajitsu Sama，田の神様 Tanokami Sama，作神様 Sakugami Sama On the Day of the Shrine in Spring (shunsha 春社) (usually in the third month) in the early morning before the birds begin to sing, Tanokami is coming down. Since he likes fish, people make offerings of fish salad, fish soup and rice with soy beans. Farmers get up early and put 鍬 / 鋤 the hoes and plows outside the barn for blessings. This is an equivalent for the ritual tauchi 田打ち the first "hitting of the fields". From the Shrine Day in spring until the Shrine Day in autumn (usually in the ninth month) the deity seen as 作柄 the supervisor of the harvest. If the deity comes late in spring and leaves soon in autumn, it will be a good harvest, because this deity likes to eat a lot, and if he stays too long, the harvest will suffer.

シャジツサマ Shajitsu Sama Rituals for this deity are held on the nearest 戊の日 Day of the Wild Boar close to the spring and autumn equinox.

- Related Kigo for Spring -. shanichi, shajitsu 社日 "day of the shrine" . ..... "day of the shrine" shanichi 社日）、shanichi sama 社日様（しゃにちさま） ..... visiting the shrine day, shanichi moode 社日詣（ ..... rain on the old man of the shrine, shaoo no ame 社翁の雨 ..... swallows of the shrine, sha en 社燕 This day varies according to the Asian Lunar Calendar.

The god of the earth had a special festival twice a year around the spring and autumn equinox to welcome him and send him off. The day was defined to be the "light or elder day of the earth" tsuchi no e 戊, according to the Asian lunar calendar and the knowledge of the five elements. This day is also called "Shrine Day" shanichi 社日. On this shrine day, farmers would assemble at the local shrine and dance for the gods, praying for a good harvest in spring (shunsha 春社）and thanking for a good harvest in autumn（shuusha 秋社 Shusha）. In autumn, the god of the earth was then sent off to the mountain, to live there until next spring as the "god of the mountain, yama no kami 山の神.

On the evening of the 15th day of the second month in Spring 16 rice balls are made as an offering, 二月の十六団子 nigatsu no juuroku dango. On the next morning, they are eaten by the family. Before eating them, the empty 臼 mortar is hit with the mallet to make a sound, in order to make the Sakugami come down from heaven. In Autumn on the 15th day of the 10th month another set of 16 rice balls is prepared, this time the 十月の十六団子 juugatsu no juuroku dango. This time the mortar is not hit with the mallet, but the mallet is simply laid over the mortar. This is put on a high place in the kitchen, to show the Sakugami the way back to heaven.

シャニチサマ Shanichi Sama Rituals for this deity are held on the nearest 戊の日 Day of the Wild Boar close to the spring and autumn equinox. If the deity comes late in spring and leaves soon in autumn, it will be a good harvest, because this deity likes to eat a lot, and if he stays too long, the harvest will suffer.

Ta no Kami, Ta-no-Kami 田の神 Tanokami, God of the Fields - Introduction and Legends paddy field Kami, god of the rice paddies, spirit of the rice field, Kami of the rice paddy

Ta no Kami, God of the Rice Fields is an important deity of the rice farming communities. In Spring he comes down from the village mountain forest to the ta 田 rice fields to protect the harvest, hence the name Ta no Kami

In Autumn after the harvest, Ta no Kami goes back to the Satoyama mountain or forest behind the village to take a rest and collect strength for the next season..

- quote - Tanokami "Kami of the rice paddy," a tutelary of rice production. The general term ta no kami can be found nationwide, but regional variations exist in the specific names used to refer to the kami. Some include nōgami (farming kami) in the northeast, sakugami (kami of production) in Yamanashi and Nagano, and tsukurigami (kami of making) in the Kinki area. People in the Izumo region use the term i no kami (kami of the wild boar), while the term jigami (land kami) is used in the Inland Sea region, and ushigami (kami of cattle) in Kyushu.

The rice paddy kami has also undergone synthesis with Ebisu in eastern Japan, and with Daikoku in the west, leading to different cults from those of fishing and commerce normally associated with these two deities.

Festivals celebrating the kami of the rice paddy are ordinarily distributed between spring and autumn in accordance with the various stages of the agricultural process, but they are especially noteworthy around the time of spring rice transplanting, while additional rituals may be held at harvest. Examples of the former include observances called saori (greeting the rice-field kami) and sanaburi (or sanoburi, "sending off the rice-field kami"), while the latter include i no ko ("child of the boar") and tōkan'ya ("tenth night"). The cycle of spring and autumn festivals celebrating the rice paddy kami are seen nationwide, and appear to be linked to legendary concepts of identity between the rice paddy kami and the mountain kami (yama no kami) in those two seasons. Namely, in spring it is believed that the mountain kami descends from the mountain to the village, becoming the kami of the rice paddy, and in fall, the rice paddy kami leaves the field and returns to the mountain, where it becomes the mountain kami. Certain differences exist in some regions, however. In the ritual called aenokoto of the Noto area, for example, the same kami circulates between rice paddy and the home, while in other examples, the deity is believed to remain in the field as a "guardian watch." The tradition of the "watch" kami is related to the legend that all the kami throughout Japan gather at the Izumo Shrine in the tenth lunar month (called kannazuki, or "month without kami"), while the "watch" kami alone remains behind to keep guard.

This deity with one eye and one leg comes to the fields to protect them before the harvest, now in the form of a kakashi, with one leg and one eye. Even the modern yellow plastic balloons with one black ring, which hang in the fields, are a modern version of this deity with one eye.

- quote - Tano Kami (田の神) is a kami who is believed to observe the harvest of rice plants or to bring a good harvest, by Japanese farmers. Ta in Japanese means "rice fields". Tano Kami is also called Noshin (kami of agriculture) or kami of peasants. Tano Kami shares the kami of corn, the kami of water and the kami of defense, especially the kami of agriculture associated with mountain faith and veneration of the dead (faith in the sorei). Tano Kami in Kagoshima Prefecture and parts of Miyazaki Prefecture is unique; farmers pray before Tano Kami stone statues in their communities.- Agricultural kami In Japan, there are agricultural deities or kami. In the Japanese documents, Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, there were kami of rice plants, Ukano Mitama, Toyouke Bimeno Kami, and kami of corns, Ootoshino Kami. （Of them, Toyouke Bimeno Kami was written also in Engishiki, and is considered to be a female kami. Generally speaking, in the Tohoku area of Japan, agriculture-related kami is Nogami (agriculture kami), in the Koshin area, it is Sakugami, in the Kinki area, it is Tsukurigami, in the Tajima and Inaba areas, it is kami of i 亥 (inoshishi, wild boar), (On the day of i, the fields are struck; which is considered to give peace on the harvest ground). In the Chugoku and Shikoku areas, it is Sanbai Sama, in Setonaikai, it is the local kami. ...- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

- quote - ... in a park in Ikebukuro in downtown Tokyo ... This particular Suitengu is just a small local shrine in front of which stand four very unusual stone statues. Seen from the front, these stones depict stolid standing monks with grinning, almost mischievous faces. In their hands, they hold small bowls topped with steamed rice, and shamoji paddle-shaped rice ladles. Although the local people treat these stones as Dosojin guardians, they are actually Ta no Kami, rice paddy spirits that have somehow arrived here from southern Kyushu region.

The Ta no Kami cult is widespread throughout the country, and is at the heart of Japanese rural folk cosmology. The Japanese imbue rice with a sacred reverence and deep cultural significance that completely transcends the plant's nutritional and economic value as a food grain. It was rice, first brought here from the Korean Peninsula nearly 3,000 years ago, that transformed Japan from a land of scattered hunter-gatherers to a great nation. Gohan, the basic word for cooked rice, is also a general term for food or a meal. Even today, the Japanese people, despite their insatiable appetite for bread and noodles, still think of themselves as rice eaters.

In most regions, the Ta no Kami are represented abstractly, with tree branches decorated with strips of paper, sometimes stuck into mounds of sand. In a restricted area of southern Kyushu, however, there is a tradition, dating back to at least the early 18th century, of carving unique stone representations, locally called Ta no Kansa. This tradition centers in Kagoshima Prefecture but includes a small portion of neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture as well.- snip -Yama no Kami reside in hills and forests all over Japan. They can be thought of as basic animistic spirits mingled with the departed souls of the local ancestors, which are believed to eventually rise into the mountains. In many regions, these basic protective spirits inhabit the mountains during the winter months, but come spring they move down into the rice paddies, turning into the Ta no Kami and watching over the precious crop until the autumn harvest is over, after which they return to the forested slopes. In Kyushu, the Ta no Kansa stones are placed on the dikes that surround and separate the paddies, and the villagers hold colorful festivals to welcome and petition the Ta no Kami in spring, and to see them off with great thanks in autumn. - source : Green Shinto 2012 -

- quote - Ta-no-kami: Water God of the rice paddy Ta-no-kami: "Kami of the rice paddy," a tutelary of rice production. The general term ta no kami can be found nationwide. While the ta-no-kami has undergone synthesis and conflated with other folk beliefs and deities from other lineages, such as Daikoku and the Lord of the Mountain (Yama no Kami) and is now thought of as a male mountain spirit, it is plausible that the early Ta no kami was originally a female water goddess, given that such a goddess was venerated throughout Eurasia, and much of Central and Southeast Asia and given that the sound of "Ta" is similar to the "Da" shortened Indian form of the Danu / Dana / Dhanya goddess. The Ta no kami is depicted usually as an abstract deity or holding phallic symbols ...